This past Monday, millions of Americans celebrated Labor Day—a day to recognize the contributions that American workers have made to our economy and society. It is equally important, however, to recognize the contributions of immigrant workers and the positive impacts they have on native-born workers.
For decades, immigrants and their families have played a vital role in the U.S. labor force and economy at large. Today, however, our broken immigration system stifles the contributions of immigrants and in turn withholds significant benefits from American workers.
Comprehensive immigration reform—such as S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, which passed in the Senate in June with a bipartisan supermajority of 68 to 32—would go a long way to improve our immigration system. This common-sense reform would provide legal status and citizenship to the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States and create a flexible system to admit future immigrants into our country. But as detailed below, immigration reform would also benefit all American workers by improving the earnings of native-born workers and generating new jobs.
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